Close Your Eyes by Michael Robotham Read Free Book Online Page B

from university. The cheap haircuts and math-nerd glasses have been replaced by designer stubble and blue contact lenses. Although always an assertive figure, he now seems to have refined his body language and become more than the sum of his parts.
    Leaping on to the stage, he shakes hands with Bannerman and extends the same hand to DCS Cray, who ignores the gesture. Milo raises his eyebrows to the crowd and gives them a cheeky smile, getting the laughter he wanted. Then he walks to the edge of the stage and turns slowly, surveying every corner of the auditorium. I notice that he’s clenching and unclenching his left fist at five-second intervals. It’s more than a nervous mannerism.
    Milo doesn’t speak until he has the room’s attention, starting quietly so that people lean forward to catch every word.
    ‘Elizabeth Crowe was stabbed more than thirty-six times with a seven-inch kitchen knife, with the killer focusing on her genitals,’ he says bluntly, aiming to shock.
    I hear a collective intake of breath.
    ‘Even after she was dead, he kept stabbing her,’ says Milo. ‘It was an act of butchery worthy of Jack the Ripper.’
    DCS Cray has jumped to her feet. ‘You have no right to reveal details of the investigation. You don’t work for the police. I could have you arrested—’
    ‘For what?’ asks Milo. ‘Telling people the truth?’
    ‘For hindering a murder investigation.’
    ‘Go on, then.’ Milo holds out his hands, wrists together. The DCS has been painted into a corner. Milo turns back to the crowd, knowing the audience is now ‘his’. ‘I think that proves my point,’ he says. ‘The police wish to keep these details from you. That’s why I withdrew from the investigation and that’s why I am here tonight – risking arrest – to tell you the truth.’
    Terry Bannerman pipes up. ‘What else don’t we know?’
    ‘A pentagram was painted in blood on the wall and candles were found arranged around Elizabeth Crowe’s body, which leads me to believe there were ritualistic elements to these murders.’
    ‘Are you saying these were satanic killings?’ asks Bannermen, his voice rising.
    ‘There were certainly features normally associated with pagan sacrifice,’ replies Milo, ‘and a Bible was found with bloodstained pages. I can also reveal that Harper Crowe had an encyclopaedia of witchcraft and occult philosophy in her bedroom. She was also known to wear heavy eyeliner and dress in black.’
    ‘You think Harper Crowe was into the occult?’ asks Bannerman.
    ‘She clearly had an interest.’
    ‘That’s not true,’ yells a female voice, close to tears. Elizabeth’s sister, Becca, has leapt to her feet. ‘My niece was not a Goth or a witch.’ She jabs her finger at Milo. ‘Harper was a sweet girl. She did nothing wrong.’
    Milo is momentarily shaken. ‘Of course, I understand, I’m simply pointing out how the police have failed to investigate this particular angle.’
    Becca’s husband tugs at her hand asking her to sit down, but she ignores him. ‘You shouldn’t make accusations like that, Mr Coleman, not when people aren’t around to defend their reputations.’
    Milo holds his right hand against his heart. ‘Please accept my sincerest apologies. I do not wish to cause offence or add to your grief.’
    Becca is coaxed back to her seat and Milo continues. A part of me is appalled by his performance, but another part is mesmerised. He reminds me of a Pentecostal preacher on a US religious channel – a man who can cry as easily as he can summon a miracle and play a crowd like a cheap fiddle.
    ‘I have prepared a psychological profile of the killer, which I will release tonight in the hope that it will keep people safe and trigger memories that might help close this case and put a psychopath behind bars.’
    Milo reads from the screen of his phone. ‘This was a targeted killing. He chose the farmhouse because it was isolated. He could well have been watching Elizabeth and